Freight-car.



No. 674,357. Patented May I4, |90I.

A. HAGER.

FREIGHT CAR.

(Appnemon'med Feb. 19. i901.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

.|nventor.

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No. 674,357. Patented May I4, |901;

'FREIGHT cvAn. (Application filed Feb. 19, 1901.)

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Witnesses. I lnvenffoz.`

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST HAGER, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, LUCAS H. VAN ALLEN, AND SAMUEL F. COLT, OF SAME PLACE.

FREIG HT-CAR." f

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 674,357, dated May 14, 1901. Application iiled February 19, 1901. Serial No. 47,946. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, AUGUST HAGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo,

in the county of Erie andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Freight-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a car chiefly adapted for carrying grain, coal, or similar material and having an opening through which the material may be easily unloaded which is closed by a door having iianges interlocking with a flange around the opening to prevent leaking; and the main object of the invention is to form, arrange, and fit the door to the opening in the car in such manner as to absolutely prevent any leakage of the material around the door when closed.

The invention further relates to certain details of construction.

For a full understanding of the merits and advantages of the invention reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings and the following description.

The invention is susceptible to various changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof, and to a full disclosure of the invention an adaptation thereof is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of a freight-car equipped with my improved device and showing the doors in open position. Fig. 2 is a section on line n, a, Fig. 1, showing the doors open. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of a fragment of a car, illustrating two of the doors and their operating mechanism. Fig.y 4 is a section on line b b, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detached fragment of a car, showing the ratchet mechanism for opening and closing the doors. Fig. 6 is a section on line c c, Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a detached top plan view of one of the doors.

In referring to the drawings in detail like numerals designate like parts.

In the preferred adaptation of the invention shown in the drawings, l represents the body of a freight-car, which is provided with the trucks 2.,Y An opening or openings 3 is arranged in the bottom 4 of the car, and this opening, which is rectangular in shape, is surrounded by metal plates 5, which are fastened to the upper surface of the bottom by screws or bolts 6 and have portions 7, which 5 5 bend or curve downward at an angle to the body of the plate to form anges. These flanges 7 extend entirely around the opening and are separated sufficiently from the edges or walls of the openings to leave spaces or 6ok pockets 8. The door 9 ispreferably of a similar rectangular-'form to fit the opening 3, and metal plates IO are secured to the under surface of the door by screw-bolts or other fastenings 1l. The outer portions 13 of these 65 metal plates are bent 0r curved upwardly at an angle to form iianges, which surround the edges of the door and are sufficiently separated from the door edges to leave spaces or pockets 14. The flanges 7 and 13 and the 7o pockets Sand 14 are arranged so that when the door is in closed position the flange 7 seats or ts in the pocket 14 and the flange 13 fits in the pocket 8, thereby securing the edges of the door to the edges of the opening in the car by interlocking flanges, which close the space between the door edges and walls of the opening, and thus prevent leakage of the material and also interlock the door edge to the walls of the opening at all points. 8o

Four of these openings are preferably formed in the car-bottom,bein g arranged in pairs, and a like number of doors are preferably employed.

The doors are preferably hinged to the bot- 4tom at one end by hinges 15 and are locked in their closed position at the opposite end by bolts 16, which .are slidably supported-between a transverse beam 17 and the car-bottom. These bolts are preferably formed of 9o a flat strip of metal and provided with elongated slots 18, through which supporting-pins 19 are passed.

Means are provided for opening and closing the doors from the car side, which preferably consist of a shaft 20, rotatably supported from the car, a chain or rope 21, connected at one end to an eyepiece 22, attached to the door and connected at the opposite end to and winding upon the shaft 20, a ratchetroo wheel 23 upon the shaft, a pawl 24, adapted to engage with the teeth in the ratchet-wheel,

and a handle 25 for turning the shaft. Two of these shafts are preferably employed, one for each pair of doors and each extending transversely across the car and being attached by a separate chain or rope to each of the two doors which it operates, so that the rotation of each shaft will either open or close two doors simultaneously.

The main advantages are that leakage is absolutely prevented when the doors are closed, owing to the mortise-andtenon connections, the cars can be easily unloaded, and the doors are flush with the bottom when closed, thereby presenting a uniformly level and even iloor.

Another great advantage is that box freightcars equipped with my improvement can be loaded with coal,shipped to one portion of the country, easily and quickly unloaded and cleaned,and then reloaded with grain or similar material or with other freight requiring an inclosed car, and do not need to be returned empty, as coal-cars generally are at the present time.

I claim as my invention-- 1. Acar having an opening and a door for closing said opening; said car and door havingoppositely-extending flanges and pockets to receive the anges.

2. A car having an opening, a pocket surrounding the opening and a flange separating the opening from the pocket, and a door iitting in theopening and having a pocket to receive the iiange of the'car and a flange fitring in the pocket surrounding theopening.

3, A car having an opening in its bottom, metal plates surrounding the opening and having down wardly-extending flanges projecting in the opening,a door fitting the opening, metal plates secured to the door and having upwardly-extending flanges; the downwardly-extending flanges being adapted to t between the door edge and the upwardlyextending flanges and the upwardly-extending flanges being adapted to fit between the downwardly-extending flanges and the Walls of the opening'when the door is in its closed position.

AUGUST HAGER.

Witnesses:

A. J. SANGSTER,

Gno. A. NEUBAUER. 

